Public servants self-interested, truculent: Deegan

Infrastructure Australia’s national infrastructure co-ordinator, Michael Deegan, says groups within the public services are putting “self-interest before reform” and are “stolid, hestitant and reluctant” about implementing changes. Photo: Sean Davey

Fleur Anderson

The commonwealth’s top infrastructure adviser has accused public servants within federal, state and territory governments of “self-interest”, “displays of truculence” and failing to show commonsense in planning for ­Australia’s infrastructure needs.

Infrastructure Australia’s national infrastructure co-ordinator, Michael Deegan, made the harsh assessment about Australia’s efforts in dealing with shortfalls in transport infrastructure at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia conference in ­Canberra on Tuesday.

Despite strong public support from the prime minister, premiers and transport and infrastructure ministers for a co-ordinated approach to dealing with Australia’s infrastructure, Mr Deegan said groups within the public services were putting “self-interest before reform” and were “stolid, hesitant and reluctant” about change.

“You would expect that somebody, somewhere, knows all the key pieces of economic infrastructure, what is needed for the future and that all relevant land spaces are monitored, protected and planned,” Mr Deegan said.

“You would expect commonsense and effective planning,” he said.

“You’d be wrong.”

He said in 2013, Australia still had no national snapshot of the condition of our existing roads and highways.

Australia failed to identify road routes where improvements could lead to an increase in national income, and failed to measure whether money spent on roads actually improved service ­performance.

“No one does these things. They ­simply don’t get done.”

Mr Deegan said some state bureaucracies resisted including the impact of ports on freight networks, “never mind that as an island, almost all of our trading economy relies on the efficiency of our ports, sea channels and road- and rail-connecting networks”.

He said nearly two years were lost in delays because of bureaucratic resistance to the Council of Australian ­Governments adopting a national ports’ strategy.

But even now, there are no ­government-endorsed published long-term port plans or measurements on performance of ports, which has been a politically-sensitive issue in the past.

“These bureaucratic charades and displays of truculence have real ­consequences for jobs and national productivity,” Mr Deegan said.

He said major reforms agreed to by federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese and his state and ­territory counterparts had still not been implemented “despite huge personal and political commitment” from the ministers, and Mr Albanese in ­particular.

Coalition infrastructure spokesman and Nationals leader Warren Truss said an Abbott government would attempt to lift the regulatory burden on Australia’s shipping industry.

Mr Truss’s call came after shipping businesses complained a change in licensing arrangements a year ago has increased red-tape costs.

“Some companies are reporting container rates from Melbourne to Brisbane at almost twice the cost of that from Singapore to Melbourne,” Mr Truss told the CEDA conference.

“When it is cheaper to ship sugar from Thailand or cement from China than around our coast, there is something going seriously wrong with our regulatory arrangements.”